Gary Anderson impresses as Peter Wright reaches Grand Slam last-16
Tuesday 14 November 2017 06:55, UK
Gary Anderson maintained his unbeaten start at the Grand Slam of Darts, as Peter Wright and Berry van Peer booked their places in the last 16 in Wolverhampton.
Anderson eased to a 5-2 victory over Simon Whitlock to top Group H and set up a knock-out clash with Michael Smith, who edged past Mark McGeeney 5-4 to take second spot in Group G.
Wright needed a final-leg decider to defeat Alan Norris and progress from Group E, as Van Peer continued to battle dartitis during his 5-4 win over Scotland's Cameron Menzies.
Mensur Suljovic qualified from the Group Stage for the first time after defeating Mark Wilson by the same score, while Stephen Bunting came back from 3-0 down to beat Scott Mitchell and top Group F.
Anderson, already through after winning his first two matches, fired five 180s and produced two 13-dart legs to see off Whitlock in the only game not to go the distance in the best-of-nine format.
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An emotional Van Peer fought back from 2-1 down to move within a leg away from victory, only to miss several darts for the match and struggle to release his dart to hand Menzies a lifeline.
Both players missed match darts in the final leg before Van Peer took out D10 to set up a last-16 meeting with Suljovic, who fired two 100+ finishes to make it three wins from three in Group H.
BDO world champion Glen Durrant topped Group E on leg difference despite losing his dead-rubber against Corey Cadby, as Wright snatched victory in his winner-takes-all contest with Norris.
Snakebite trailed 4-3 but nailed a 170 checkout to take the contest to a ninth leg, where he capitalised on a missed dart at double from Norris to convert a 14-dart leg and progress.
Chisnall lost 5-4 to Jeffrey de Zwaan but still progressed from Group E on leg difference thanks to Mitchell's defeat to Bunting, with the final set of round-robin fixtures taking place on Tuesday.
The Grand Slam of Darts continues on Sky Sports throughout the week with coverage underway on Tuesday on Sky Sports Action from 7pm as the best of the PDC compete against the best of the BDO
Keep up to date with the news as the tungsten enters its busiest time of year with the PDC World Championships just around the corner get all the latest at www.skysports.com/darts and join in the conversation @SkySportsDarts.
